Earbud and headphone-style devices are used to play audio for users of electronic devices with media playback capabilities. Earbud-style devices are fitted adjacent the ear, for example, a small plastic earpiece rests in the outer ear canal, or alternatively having an elastomeric earpiece(s) that fits snuggly within a user's ear canal. Headphone-style devices have relatively large ear cups that are worn over the ears placing a loudspeaker adjacent the user's ear. Headphones may be used by a user to play audio of a media player or may handle audio for a cellular telephone.
Headphones are great for their comfort, sound quality, style, and background noise cancellation when the user is stationary. Earbuds are best for their portability, discreteness, and durability when the user is on-the-go. Consumers use both, and commonly switch back and forth between earbuds and headphones throughout the day in a variety of settings.
Conventional earbud systems are compact, easily transportable, useful for users are that are on-the-go, and inexpensive to produce audio devices. Earbuds have disadvantages in that they can be uncomfortable, fall out of the ears, produce less quality sound, and cause more hearing loss/damage. Headphones and earbuds both have disadvantages of their own; headphones can be bulky, overly expensive, difficult to adjust to a perfect fit, and difficult to take on-the-go because of their larger size. Earbuds can have reduced durability and may be easily damaged as they are wrapped around MP3 players, and stuffed in pockets and bags.